Ironbound USA
Ironbound USA is effectively a job skills organization. "Build your skills. Build your brand. Build your future." We help teach inner city high school students some of the skills necessary to be successful in 21st century jobs. Our innovative professional and social skills programs focus on learning about brands, teaching the students that they are "their own brand" and that they have the responsibility to grow and protect their brand. We "speak with" not "talk at" the students. We begin the personal branding process by discussing and analyzing brands that are relevant to the students (e.g. Nike, Red Bull etc). Then using "the power of commonalities" we take that learning and apply it to their personal brand. (read more about Ironboud personal branding)
After we learn about personal branding, we discuss the most likely way the students will be asked to present their brand - the interview. We discuss the philosophy behind a professional interview and then practice some of the critical interview questions like "tell me about yourself". Our goal is to demystify the interview process and build confidence which translates to more success during the interview process.
We have been teaching the Ironbound personal branding educational programs at our 2 partner Newark, NJ High Schools (St. Benedict's Prep & Newark Tech) for the past 6 years. To this date 1,012 Newark High School students have been in our education programs. Each program has a typical class size of 14-16 students and is approximately 18-20 class hours over 15 sessions. Our programs are taught during school hours in our partner high schools. We offer and teach these innovative programs at NO cost to the schools. The Ironbound USA educational programs have been built to scale. Our goal is to expand the Ironbound Educational Programs to other cities and states.
In addition to our formal educational programs, we have developed and piloted our Certifiably LIT (Learning, Inspiring, Teaching) peer to peer teaching model in our partner schools. Peer to peer teaching is one of the most effective methods for learning. Frankly, students listen to their peers more than they listen to adults so why not utilize this fact to teach important health information. We have been working in partnership with The Rutgers School of Nursing focusing on peer to peer health initiatives. Our goal is to scale this peer to peer teaching model in other schools and potentially use this model for other subjects. read more about Certifiably LIT).
We also teach our personal branding process in an informal way during our community service programs (e.g. The Stadium project & Paint for Pink) and in our Ironbound Boxing Academy.
The Ironbound USA world
Educational Programs
Personal Branding Programs
Certfiably LIT
Peer to Peer teaching model
Community Service
The Stadium Project and others
Ironbound Boxing Academy
More than Boxing
Paint for Pink
Paint for Pink
Personal Branding Programs
"Build your skills. Build your brand. Build your future."
The Ironbound Personal Branding programs are the core of our educational programs. To date 1,012 Newark High School students have been in our education programs. Each program has a typical class size of 14-16 students and approximately 18-20 class hours taught over 15 sessions. We teach our programs during school hours at our partner high schools. We offer and teach these innovative programs at NO cost to the schools.
Our motto is "Build your skills. Build your brand. Build your future." The philosophy behind this motto is:
- Build your skills and you will be more marketable;
- Which will build your brand and you will have more and better choices;
- which will successfully help to build your future.
Personal Branding Programs
"You are your brand."
"Build you skills. Build your brand. Build your future."
Pictures from our personal branding programs
The Stadium Project
Ironbound Stadium Project Testimonal
The Ironbound Stadium project was a challenging and successful community service endeavor. As volunteers, we started cleaning and beautifying a 4,500 seat stadium that had been closed and abandoned since 1987. We began this herculean project during our 2017 Ironbound/SBP Spring Phase project. We believed that by breathing life back into something that was eye sore, this would be good for the community and we would learn valuable lessons by doing something great. After we worked all summer we had our Paint for Pink breast cancer/heal awareness event at the Stadium. (read more)
Read article in Star Ledger about Stadium Project
The Ironbound Stadium Project - Before
The Ironbound Stadium Project began as a community service project in May 2017 with the Ironbound/ St. Benedict Prep Spring Phase class.
The Ironbound Stadium - After
Picture from Ironbound Stadium Project in October 2017 after Paint for Pink.
Watch an incredible time lapse video
showinh the Ironbound Stadium Project
Certifiably L.I.T. Peer to Peer Teaching
Learning - Inspiring - Teaching
Peer to Peer Teaching Model
Students listen to their peers more than they listen to adults. An effective method to teach students something important is to create and implement a teaching method that utilizes this fact. Certifiably LIT is a peer to peer delivery system that allows students to impart that important information to their peers.
In September 2017 the first version (1.0) of the Certifiably L.I.T. Health Initiative created by Ironbound USA and the Rutgers School of Nursing was piloted at Newark Tech High School's TEAL Center to 38 students. In September 2018 version 1.1 was piloted to 41 students in Newark Tech's TEAL Center. The curriculum included information on HIV, STD's, smoking, opioid use, teen pregnancy, diet plus other topics. The students were taught the curriculum and then taught methods that would effectively teach this information to their peers. Peer to peer teaching.
In May 2019 Certifiably LIT version 2.0 was taught by Ironbound USA during our Spring Phase course at St. Benedict's Prep in Newark, NJ. In version 2.0 we concentrated on Infection Control. According to the C.D.C. (Center for Disease Control) the best and most effective way to control the spread of the flu and colds is to regularly wash your hands. Yes hand washing. (read more)
Certifiably L.I.T. Peer to Peer Teaching Model
Infection Control aka The Importance of Hand Washing
Watch the Certifiably LIT peer to peer infection control video.
Aka the Importance of Hand Washing.
Ironbound Boxing Academy
"More than boxing"
The Ironbound Boxing Academy is located at 226 Rome Street inside the Ironbound Recreation Center. The City of Newark has provided the space and The Academy operates during the hours of the recreation center. There is no cost to attend the Academy. The Ironbound Boxing Academy was founded in 2016 by Mike Steadman, Keith Colon and Gary Bloore. The primary boxing coaches are Mike Steadman and Keith Colon.
Pictures from the Ironbound Boxing Academy
Watch"Fighting Chance".
A documentary on building
the Boxing Academy.
Experiential Field Trips
It's a Big world, go see it. We believe that being exposed to new places and people is critical to learning. It expands your mind and inspires more creative thought and understanding. Seeing and experiencing parks, museums, business environments is both inspirational and aspirational. We have taken memorable experiential field trips with our classes to the Metropolitan & Whitney Museums, walked and played baseball in Central Park, strolled on the High Line, climbed the Vessel and visited professional businesses and eaten a lot of pizza. These are indelible trips and experiences. And we will take as many as possible.
We have some pictures below and you can see more great photos with this link to the field trip page.
It's a BIG World. Go see it.
High School Students taught in Ironbound USA programs
To date we have taught high school 1,012 students the Ironbound USA educational programs. Each program is a minimum of 18-20 class hours usually over 15 week period (approx 1.0 to 1.5 hours per class). The typical class size is 16 students. We concentrate on personal brand building and professional and social skills.
Goal for Ironbound USA Educational Programs
Our goal is in the next 10 years by 2028 to teach 10,000 inner city high school students our Ironbound professional and social skills programs.